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CIRA NASCAR Cup Series Season 2 (2019)
Changes for Season 2 '''Drivers & Teams''' * Jimmy Alagna would leave Chip Ganassi Racing to join Hendrick Motorsports, replacing Elizabeth Young who announced her departure from Hendrick Motorsports * Elizabeth Young joins Chip Ganassi Racing, replacing Jimmy Alagna, who moved to Hendrick Motorsports. * Will Cline has been released from Hendrick Motorsports, and would be replaced by Cecilia Tran, who parted ways with the No. 9 team. * eNASCAR iRacing PEAK Driver Michael Conti would join Hendrick Motorsports, and will pilot the No. 9, replacing Cecilia Tran, who is replacing Will Cline in the No. 48. * Joseph Lombard announced that Lombard Bros Racing will not return for Season 2, and Lombard also announced that he will be joining JTG Daugherty Racing for full-time, piloting the No. 37, which was suspended for the rest of Season 1 due to an illegal engine system, replacing Katherine Roth, and would be teaming up with Kate Pytosh. * Spencer Owens announced that he and Team Penske have parted ways, and Owens will not return for Season 2. * Maria Brandolezi part ways with Stewart-Haas Racing, and would join Team Penske to pilot the No. 12, replacing Spencer Owens. * Gaunt Brothers Racing will go full-time with NASCAR Sirius XM Series Driver Jake Baskinger. * Petty Ware Racing announced they would go full-time for the No. 51 with Aflac Cup Series Driver Logan McDaniel, who earns the teams first win in Kansas in Season 1. * Rick Ware Racing No. 52 will run a limited schedule. * eNASCAR iRacing PEAK Driver Zack Novak will join Stewart-Haas Racing to run full-time in the No. 4, replacing Maria Brandolezi, who is joining Team Penske. Novak recently drove for Front Row Motorsports in Season 1, replacing Alexa Bower, who was serving her three-race suspension at the time * Joe Gibbs Racing releases Kaleah Ho, and replacing her with eNASCAR iRacing PEAK Driver Bobby Zalenski in the No. 18. * eNASCAR iRacing PEAK Driver Blake Reynolds and iRacing NORC and LORA Series Driver Jared Darling would join Spire Motorsports for selected races. * Aflac Cup Series Driver Eddie Jones parted ways with Joe Gibbs Racing, and will be replaced by iRacing NORC and LORA Series Driver Daniel Faulkingham in the No. 20, while Jones will share the No. 81 ride with Tiffany Thani for XCI Racing. * Former two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso will join MBM Motorsports to pilot the No. 66 at some selective races. * Formula One test driver and former Indycar Driver Esteban Gutiérrez will join Rick Ware Racing part-time in the No. 52. * NASCAR Heat Pro League Driver Joey Stone will pilot the No. 31 for Richard Childress Racing for part-time, replacing Conor Mack. * Garrett Lowe would join Premium Motorsports, piloting the No. 27 ride for part-time, and replacing Sebastian Baker. * eNASCAR iRacing PEAK Driver Ryan Michael Luza will pilot the No. 53 part-time with Rick Ware Racing * eNASCAR iRacing PEAK Driver's Jimmy Mullis and Keegan Leahy, along with NASCAR Sirius XM Series Driver Coco Garcia will join MBM Motorsports for part-time. * Multi-time eNASCAR iRacing PEAK Series Champion Ray Alfalla will run part-time with Rick Ware Racing in the No. 52. * Dellanira Rosario announced that she'll be taking an indefinite hiatus from the series after Season 1. * Crystal Moretti and Chip Ganassi Racing will part ways after having multiple issues of contract negotiation, Moretti announced that she will not return for Season 2. * Jillian Keiber expecting to say her final farewell to Premium Motorsports, and will become a free agent before Season 2, eNASCAR iRacing PEAK Series driver Malik Ray would replace Keiber in the No. 15 for Season 2. * Chip Ganassi would sign Jillian Keiber to pilot the No. 1, replacing Crystal Moretti. * Clarissa Witten will not return to Spire Motorsports for Season 2. * Germain Racing announced that the No. 13 ride will run a limited schedule following Dellanira Rosario's hiatus, they would sign Luis Montoya as their only main part-time driver. * Tommy Baldwin Racing will run a two-car operation, adding back the No. 7, and signing Formula 1 test driver Pietro Fittipaldi to run full-time, the last time Fittipaldi was involved in NASCAR was when he competed in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series where he won the track championship title at Hickory Motor Speedway in 2011. * 2014 All-Japan Formula Three Champion Nobuharu Matsushita would sign with Spire Motorsports, becoming the first Japanese-native in the NASCAR community and in the series. * Tyler Saponara announced that he will not be returning for Season 2 and parted ways with Premium Motorsports. * Jacob Drury would replace Tyler Saponara for a part-time schedule in the No. 27, sharing the ride with Garrett Lowe. * Premium Motorsports has confirmed that they will run a three-car operation, adding the No. 55 back, and will be piloted by Formula 1 Williams Racing Development Driver, Jamie Chadwick, who will run selective races for Season 2. * Aflac Cup Series Driver Camden Luca announced that he will not return for Season 2 and has parted ways with Joe Gibbs Racing. * Joe Gibbs Racing made a decision to promote Joseph Tran from their technical alliance team, Leavine Family Racing, to pilot the No. 19, and also would be having more sponsorships. * Sponsorship Lowe's would announce its return to Hendrick Motorsports to sponsor back the No. 48 ride for Cecilia Tran. * Leavine Family Racing announced they would sign Caroline McCarthy to replace Joseph Tran, who has been promoted to Joe Gibbs Racing, to pilot the No. 95 full-time. * Katherine Roth would be released from an indefinite suspension, and would be signed with Rick Ware Racing to run the No. 52 ride, along with joining StarCom Racing to run selective races in their returning No. 99 ride. * Former NASCAR driver Dylan Kwasniewski comes out of retirement after a struggling stint in the NASCAR Xfinity Series during the 2014 season with Turner Motorsports, and will join CIRA Universe for the first time. Kwasniewski would sign with StarCom Racing part-time to pilot the No. 99 ride. '''Rules''' * Drivers can now earn an additional 5 bonus points if one of them get the fastest lap of the race, meaning that the maximum points they can earn up to is 200 points, with the stage racing format returning for Season 1. * A new qualifying format would be introduce, having to add a qualifying round know as the "Bump Shootout", where only teams who run part-time have 10 minutes to put in the fastest lap, and only the Top 4 teams would qualify for the race, or in case of 39 cars, the Top 3 would make the race, 38 cars would mean only the Top 2, and with only 37 cars would mean the driver with the fastest lap would make the race. * It was announced that the new post-race inspection rule that is implemented in all of NASCAR top three series would be used in the CIRA series, meaning that if any race-winning teams are found to violate the rule book would automatically be disqualified. Following a race, the first-place and second-place teams, along with at least one randomly selected car, will undergo post-race inspection. The inspection should take between 90 minutes and two hours to complete before the race winner is officially declared. Instead of scoring last-place points, the disqualified teams will not be scored, and bonus points will be stripped. * New rules for pre-qualifying and post-qualifying inspection will be introduced for the first time along with new rules for pre-race inspection. Any team who fails to pass any inspection will automatically go to the rear of the field. * If teams have to put in new components in their cars, each component will result in a 5-place grid penalty. * The Clash Race would be introduced and will take place at Daytona. * The series would introduce the Daytona 500 for the very first time in the CIRA universe, along with the Daytona Duels where the 500 mile-race entry list would be determined. Drivers would be given a random number, Duel 1 would host the drivers who drawn odds, Duel 2 would host the evens, only 4 part-time teams will make the Daytona 500. * The series would also introduced the famous Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis, which the track would make its first appearance in the series. * Stage racing would make a return for Season 2 after only applied to three races in Season 1. Only the Top 10 drivers that are eligible for points. Drivers and Teams '''Chartered teams''' '''Limited schedule''' Schedule *Martinsville Speedway has been moved down from the 3rd to the 8th race of the season, having Rockingham Speedway, making its return for the first time since 2013, and will be the 3rd race of the season. *Kentucky Speedway and Sonoma Raceway swap places, making Kentucky come before Sonoma. *Darlington Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway would make their return after a one-year absence. *North Wilkesboro Speedway would make its return to NASCAR for the first time. *Atlanta Motor Speedway would be moved to the 11th race of the season due to Darlington Raceway's return, and will be hosting a night race for the first time since 2014. *Memphis International Raceway would join the series for the first time. *Michigan International Speedway would be moved to the penultimate race of the regular season as ISM Raceway would be the finale of the regular season. *Circuits of the Americas would be added as a playoff race for the first time, making it the second road course of the season. *Dover International Speedway would be moved as a playoff race, coming before Charlotte Motor Speedway. *Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Chcagoland Speedway will not be returning for Season 2. Results and Standings '''Drivers' Championship''' '''Manufacturers' championship''' =